Disorder leads to ferromagnetic topological insulator. Magnetic topological insulators are an exotic class of materials that conduct electrons without any resistance at all and so are regarded as a promising breakthrough in materials science. Researchers from the Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat in Würzburg and Dresden have achieved a significant milestone in the pursuit of energy-efficient quantum technologies by designing the ferromagnetic topological insulator MnBi6Te10 from the manganese bismuth telluride family. The amazing thing about this quantum material is that its…

An international team led by the UNIGE has developed a quantum material in which the fabric of space inhabited by electrons can be curved on-demand. The development of new information and communication technologies poses new challenges to scientists and industry. Designing new quantum materials – whose exceptional properties stem from quantum physics – is the most promising way to meet these challenges. An international team led by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and including researchers from the universities of Salerno,…

Every year on 22 March, World Water Day reminds us of the importance of one of the most important resources of life. Almost two-thirds of our planet is covered with water, but not even three percent is drinkable freshwater. Every day, large quantities of chemicals enter our waters and endanger the health of humans, animals and plants. In addition to pesticides, for example, drug residues also pollute our drinking water. The Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP) has…

– a step towards industrial production. Eva Unger’s team investigated at BESSY II how precursor inks influence the quality of perovskite thin films. The best cells were scaled up to minimodule size. Metal halide perovskites are considered to be a particularly low-cost and promising class of materials for next-generation solar modules. Perovskite solar cells can be produced with coating processes using liquid inks made from precursor materials and various solvents. After coating, the solvents evaporate and the perovskites crystallise to…

Clean polyester can be separated from mixed waste fabrics by chemical sorting and then converted into original monomers. The apparel industry accounts for 10% of global carbon emissions. The annual amount of fiber production reached 113 million tons in 2021* and the demand is increasing every year. However, almost 90% of post-consumer fiber wastes are disposed of through incineration or in landfills. Among these forms of waste, synthetic fiber has become a major threat to the environment and human health…

Manchester scientists have created a new material, dubbed ‘StarCrete’ which is made from extra-terrestrial dust, potato starch, and a pinch of salt and could be used to build homes on Mars. Building infrastructure in space is currently prohibitively expensive and difficult to achieve. Future space construction will need to rely on simple materials that are easily available to astronauts, StarCrete offers one possible solution. The scientists behind the invention used simulated Martian soil mixed with potato starch and a pinch…

New research could lead to longer-lasting batteries. Whether in an e-car, cell phone, or cordless screwdriver, many devices used on a daily basis now use rechargeable batteries. However, the trend also has its downsides. For example, certain cell phones were banned from being carried on airplanes, or e-cars  caught fire. Modern commercial lithium ion batteries are sensitive to mechanical stress. So-called “solid-state batteries” could provide a remedy. These no longer contain a liquid core – the so-called electrolyte – but…

The SpaceX Cargo Dragon space shuttle departed from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the International Space Station (ISS) at 2:30 a.m. CET on March 15, 2023. Among others, the shuttle carried an experimental setup that a team of students in the small satellite group KSat e.V. of the University of Stuttgart will use to conduct three experiments. The students were supported by a team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT in Aachen, who designed and manufactured…

SMART researchers develop the world’s first microneedle-based drug delivery technique for plants It is the first time that polymeric silk microneedles have been used to deliver agrochemicals to a wide variety of plants Silk microneedles are a powerful tool which is utilised in medical applications for humans, and now they can be used for efficient drug delivery to plants that will be useful for plant science research and precision agriculture The novel technique is minimally invasive and is a sustainable…

Highly dynamic bistable soft actuators allow for varied locomotion. Most animals can quickly transition from walking to jumping to crawling to swimming if needed without reconfiguring or making major adjustments. Most robots cannot. But researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have created soft robots that can seamlessly shift from walking to swimming, for example, or crawling to rolling. “We were inspired by nature to develop a robot that can perform different tasks and adapt to its environment without adding actuators or…

Scientists to retrofit large shipping vessels with ultramodern sails in efforts to cut carbon emissions University of Southampton initiative will investigate how modern vessels perform on the ocean when fitted with the wing-sails Funding from Innovate UK to investigate the potential of the technology and decarbonise the UK’s maritime sector SHIPS of the future could once again be powered by wind if a pioneering project which retrofits large vessels with ultramodern wing-sails proves successful in cutting carbon emissions. Scientists from…

Electrification is seen as having an important role to play in the fossil-free aviation of tomorrow. But electric aviation is battling a trade-off dilemma: the more energy-efficient an electric aircraft is, the noisier it gets. Now, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed a propeller design optimisation method that paves the way for quiet, efficient electric aviation. In recent years, electrification has been described as having an important role in reducing emissions from future aviation. Due to the…

“DIVE imaging systems” Spins off from Fraunhofer IWS in Dresden. Precise two-dimensional analysis of high-tech layers in microelectronics, battery factories or even in the automotive sector approaches within reach. A measuring system developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS facilitates this by integrating hyperspectral sensor technology, artificial intelligence and special illumination techniques into a high-performance, highly flexible inspection system. A team of researchers from Fraunhofer IWS establishes “DIVE imaging systems GmbH”, a BMWK-funded spin-off company, to…

Perhaps, but we must decide how to evaluate them. A ‘best practice’ protocol for researchers developing piezoelectric materials has been developed by scientists – a first in this cutting-edge field of technology. The protocol was developed by an international team led by physicists at University of Bath in the UK, in response to findings that experimental reports lack consistency. The researchers made the shocking discovery that nine out of 10 scientific papers miss experimental information that is crucial to ensure the…

Innovative battery researchers have cracked the code to creating real-time 3D images of the promising but temperamental lithium metal battery as it cycles. A team from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have succeeded in observing how the lithium metal in the cell behaves as it charges and discharges. The new method may contribute to batteries with higher capacity and increased safety in our future cars and devices. “We’ve opened a new window in order to understand – and in the…

In the latest advance in nano- and micro-architected materials, engineers at Caltech have developed a new material made from numerous interconnected microscale knots. The knots make the material far tougher than identically structured but unknotted materials: they absorb more energy and are able to deform more while still being able to return to their original shape undamaged. These new knotted materials may find applications in biomedicine as well as in aerospace applications due to their durability, possible biocompatibility, and extreme…